Just a Dream Right?
by YourPinkDiary
Summary: Claire thinks she's a normal, average teenager. But when two strangers show up, she quickly realises things aren't as they seem. What does her father do for a living anyway? Sisterfic.
1. Chapter 1

He smiled softly to himself

**Disclaimer: **As much as I wish I did… I don't own this.

**A/N: **I'm not a huge fan of sister fics to be completely honest. But I was reading one once and got an idea. Plus, I do kind of like the idea of Sam and Dean having to deal with something like this. I think this one's a little different to what's out there, I might be wrong, but… anyway. Reviews are very much appreciated :) haha.

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_He smiled softly to himself. She was dead asleep. He pulled the covers up over her and kissed her on the temple._

"_Goodnight." He whispered before quietly shutting the door behind himself. _

Sam's eyes snapped open. He looked at the clock beside his bed. 8.30am. It was time to hit the road again.

"Get up." He whacked Dean with a pillow before heading to the bathroom.

xxx

"So… I had that dream again." Sam tired to bring it up casually, like it was just trivial conversation, nothing to be worried over.

"Yeah. What dream?" Dean asked from the drivers seat.

"The one with the girl…"

"In bed, right, I got ya." Dean smirked.

"Dude, it's not like that."

"Then what is it like?"

Sam thought for a moment. "I… I really don't know." He said. "This is the fifth night in a row I've had this dream its so… it just feels so real. I feel like I know her or something."

"Maybe we met her on a job once and you were secretly crushing on her." Dean had that smirk again.

"I told you it's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" Dean repeated.

Sam sighed. "This is going to sound crazy,"

"But then everything in our lives is crazy." Dean cut in.

"Right. But I don't know, I get the feeling she's like our… sister or something." He looked at Dean's face. "Yeah, you know what, forget it, it's a crazy dream. Nothing more."

Dean nodded and continued to hum along to the Metallica track playing, drumming his fingers on the dashboard in front of him.

"Sister," He chuckled to himself. "That's a crazy one alright."

xxx

_She was only pretending to be asleep. She didn't want him to worry about her. She was fine. She didn't stir a bit as he pulled the covers up over her, tucking her in as though she was a small child. He kissed her temple and whispered "Goodnight" before leaving._

_When she knew he was gone she allowed herself to smile. "Night." _

Claire's eyes flew open. She rolled over and glanced at the clock. 8.30. Crap. She was late. She bolted up and quickly jumped in the shower. She had exactly twenty minutes to be ready and then had to beg her mum to drive her. Again. It was the fifth time this week this had happened. It seemed everyday this week Claire had slept right through her 8 am alarm and woken after the exact same dream.

xxx

"Please, please, _please _drive me. It'll never happen again I _swear_." Claire was three seconds away from dropping to her knees at her mother's feet and begging.

"You said that yesterday, and the day before, oh and do I have to remind you about the day before that?"

"I know but if I'm late I'll get detention."

"Maybe that'll do you some good. Teach you not to do it again."

"But… mooooom!! _Please. _I'm supposed to be going to the mall with Sophie after school today. I can't get detention."

But Louise simply gave her that look only mothers can give. "I'm sorry. I thought I had a sixteen-year-old daughter. Not a two year old."

"I promise I'll be good. I'll, do all my chores and… and… I'll clean my room."

"It's not going to work on me."

Claire let out a frustrated growling noise. "Fine. I'll be late. I'll get detention. I wont go to the mall and I can kiss that spot on the team goodbye, that's for sure." She paused as she got the door. This was normally the part where her mom gave in and drove her.

But this time she didn't. The only response she was her mother calling out after her. "You're going to have to learn your actions have consequences someday!"

In a moment of teenage angst Claire slammed the door behind her. It wasn't her fault she slept in. It was that stupid dream. But how was she supposed to explain that. 'Oh yeah, I've had this weird dream every night this weeks that wakes me up at exactly 8.30 everyday. It's about my brother saying goodni-'

She stopped her train of thought there. The whole thing was ridiculous. She didn't have a brother. She didn't have any siblings. It was just herself and her mum. And her dad once in a blue moon.

Glancing at her watch, Claire picked up her pace a little. Not wanting to be later than she already was.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it… sadly.

**A/N: **Well, I'm really glad to see people are reading this. I have some of it posted on another site, so I have the first 5 chapters already written, I'm going to try to get them up as quickly as I can but you know… we'll see how that goes, haha. Remember, if you love it, hate it, are indifferent towards it, let me know by pressing the fun little review button at the end!

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Claire kept her head down, avoiding eye contact and she quietly slipped into her seat next to Sophie. She'd just begun taking out her books when a piece of paper was slid over to her side of the desk.

_Where were you?_

Claire picked up a pen and wrote a quick reply.

_**Slept in. **_

_You've been doing that a lot lately. _

_**I know. Mom wouldn't drive me this time. **_

_So I guess you got detention? _

_**After school till 4. **_

_That's too bad. Maybe you'll have better luck next year. _

Claire looked up at Sophie. The platinum blonde had her head down and was writing. It looked as though she was busily writing notes about world war two, but Claire knew she was writing notes to Bryan Taylor, her boyfriend. Sophie finally noticed Claire's gaze and looked at her.

"What?" She whispered.

"I really have no chance now?" Claire asked. "I'm better than any other girl that tried out and you know it. _Please _don't rule me out just yet."

Sophie sighed. "Fine. I'll _think _about it. But only because Bryan's friend Jeremy likes you and asked him to ask me to let you on the team. The football team wont date anyone who's not a cheerleader. Are you home tomorrow?"

"All day."

"Ok, well, keep it that way."

Claire wasn't sure how she managed to get through the rest of the day. Gym was just before lunch and normally she would skip it, only decided today wasn't the day to be pushing her luck. She already had an after-school detention and nearly lost all chance of getting on the cheerleading team. It clearly wasn't her day. The detention sucked. It felt like something straight out of a bad movie. There were the typical 'always found in detention' rebellious type and the teacher was just horrible.

She was just glad when the day was done.

x x x

"Hey Dean, someone left a message on Dad's phone."

It was abrupt and out of the blue for both brothers. The last time anyone had called the number was just after he'd died. Since then word had spread and no one rang it anymore. The brother's kept the phone charged 'just in case' but never once had it proven to be necessary.

"What?"

Even though he was driving Dean grabbed the phone out of Sam's hands and quickly dialled the voicemail number.

"_You have one new message._" The familiar automated voice started. "_Received yesterday at nine twenty three a m. 'Hey John its me, Louise. Were you planning on dropping by soon? I know Claire really wants to see you and I think there might be something… you know I'll just talk to you when you get here. Call me back.' To save the message-"_

Dean frowned. "Who's Louise?"

"Beats me. I doubt she's a hunter though."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, for one she's under the impression dad's still around."

Dean nodded. "Right, good point."

There was a moment of silence as they continued driving.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"Well what?"

"Are we going to go?"

"Go where?"

"To see this… Louise person."

"There are a few problems with that Sammy." Dean started. "Firstly, we don't know who she is, secondly we don't know where she lives and thirdly… well I don't have a third point but I just don't think it's a good idea ok?"

Despite Dean's protests Sam had already gotten out his laptop. "You know location is hardly an issue Dean. Look, this… Louise was obviously a friend of Dad's. She at least deserves to know what happened."

Dean muttered something under his breath before sighing. "Fine. Where are we going?"

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Soo... I'd love to know what you think. Love it? Hate it? Only reading because you're just that bored you'll read any old piece of crap? There a lovely button that will let you tell me all :).


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **This is for fun… honest… if I owned it well, you'd see a lot more shirtless Sam and Dean that's for sure.

**A/N: **You guys rock! I wasn't expecting the response I got, I'm so happy. Keep reviewing; I'm addicted to them, haha. I realised that anonymous reviews were disabled, so I enabled them so anyone can review now :) I'm so glad you guys like it. This one's a little longer.

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Claire's weekend started out no different to any other weekend.

Sleeping in till eleven…

Lounging around doing nothing until twelve…

Finally deciding it might be a good idea to get a kick-start on all that homework…

Realise ten minutes later that it wasn't a good idea, especially not when the sunshine outside looked so inviting.

Claire was determined to get on the cheerleading squad that year. When she missed out the previous year she made it her soul purpose in life, had spent all year getting fit and training and she wasn't going to let someone like Sophie get in her way. For Claire it wasn't about the popularity, or the boys… although that was an extra bonus. She just wanted, for once in her life, to be able to be passionate about something and to be noticed. She was sick of being the shy quiet girl who stood in the corner praying that no one would see her. She wanted to be out there, to have passion and excitement. To know what it was to have that adrenaline shoot through her body at the mere thought of something.

Cheerleading was it.

Who hadn't at some point dreamt of being able to be thrown into the air? Of doing back flips and turns? She was going to do it. She knew she could.

Only then she had to go and sleep in, again. And ended up being late landing her detention.

It might not seem like a big deal. So, she couldn't go shopping right? Wrong.

That 'shopping trip' was the difference between Claire making it on the squad or not. It was in that shopping trip that Sophie, captain of the team, would decide whether or not Claire had the 'it' factor. The one that would get her on the team. It sounds cruel...

But that's high school.

Since when is life as a teenager fair?

So, now Claire was in a mind set that she was going to do anything to get on that team. The warm sun outside looked so inviting that she went and pulled on a pair of trainers and headed out the door.

At the same time she pulled open the door, Sophie got out of her car and walked down the driveway.

Claire couldn't hide the surprise on her face. "Sophie? What are you doing here?" She asked.

The girl brushed her blonde fringe from her eyes. "Well, you couldn't come yesterday so I thought I'd pay you a surprise visit."

"Oh." Claire ran her finger through long brown hair, silently thanking every god that she'd thought to clean her room the other day. "Well, then, come in." She noticed Sophie eye her outfit. "I was just on my way out to go for a run." She explained.

Sophie simply nodded, her cool blue gaze taking in the living room, before heading to the kitchen.

"So um, this is my house." One word was running through Claire's head 'idiot, idiot, idiot' what a stupid thing to say. 'This is my house.'?? What was she thinking?

"It's… cute." Sophie said finally. "A bit small but, I guess that's… in." The way she said it let Claire know that small houses definitely weren't 'in' and that what was 'in' were the big mansions on the other side of town.

"Well, it's just me and my mum here, so… I guess we really don't need a lot of space."

Sophie's head whipped around. "Where's your dad?" She asked bluntly.

"He travels a lot. But he comes by once in a while, and sends me stuff for my birthday, Christmas… that sort of thing."

"Are your parents married?"

"No."

"Oh. How long ago did they get divorced?"

Claire thought about lying, but apparently her mouth moved quicker than her brain. "They never were married." She said softly.

"Oh." Sophie spotted the staircase, and without asking headed up.

"Um, my room's the second door on the left." Claire called out, running after her.

She followed the blonde girl, suddenly feeling like a stranger in her own room. Waiting for the verdict as Sophie looked around. Sifting through the CD collection (Claire thought it was pure luck that just the previous weekend she'd moved all her old stuff into storage. She had a feeling 'AC/DC' and 'Metallica' wouldn't go down too well with a girl like Sophie), looking at the various books, she was about to open the wardrobe when Claire yelled out.

"Don't open that!"

It was too late to take back her words. Sophie slowly turned around.

"Why not?" She asked.

"I um…" Claire moved in front of her wardrobe. "Ok, firstly, I want you to know I don't know how to use any of it."

"Any of what?"

Claire ignored her. "And that… well, you know how I said Dad sends me stuff for like, my birthday, Christmas, that type of thing… well, my Dad's sense of what is normal to give to a sixteen year old is… a little different to, well, the worlds really."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Are you going to open that now?" She asked.

"Yes, but remember what I said." And Claire opened the door.

At a first glance it looked like your typical sixteen-year-old girls closet. Shirts, tank tops, jeans, skirts, shorts, they were all in there. All the latest styles and trends. It was what had been shoved carelessly in the bottom amongst various shoes that raised an eyebrow.

Every type of weaponry imaginable.

Rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bullets, knives. It was all there.

"What," Sophie stared. "Is all this?"

Claire shrugged. "I told you. My Dad's a bit… different."

"Is he different as in psycho maniac killer different, because that's the only reason I could think of that would make someone give another person all of this."

The words 'psycho maniac killer' stung, but Claire didn't let it show. "I don't know why he gives them to me. Maybe… he thinks I need them to protect myself, or maybe it's his idea of a joke. I've never been game enough to ask."

Sophie nodded and shut the doors. "I've got to get going. I have a date with Bryan." She headed down the stairs and paused at the door. "Oh and, Jeremy wants to take you out Monday night. He'll call you tomorrow." She promptly left before Claire even had a chance to answer.

As she shut the door, she found it impossible to tell if that had gone well or not.

She'd barely made it back up the stairs, somehow suddenly too exhausted to go running, when there was a knock on the door. Inwardly she hoped Sophie hadn't come back. She sighed, turned around and headed back downstairs.

She opened the door, thankfully to find it wasn't Sophie. Instead two tall men (although one was far taller than the other she quickly noticed) in casual clothing stood there.

"I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, your religion, or any cults." Her voice came out monotone.

"Actually," The taller of the two said. "We're looking for a Louise?"

"Why?" Claire asked immediately. "She's not here." She quickly added.

"I'm Sam, and this is Dean, Louise called our Dad, we got the message and it sounded important so…"

"Are you Claire?" Dean asked, cutting off his brother.

Claire ignored him. "Who's your Dad?" She asked, looking at Sam.

"John Winchester."

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Thought I'd do some shout-outs to the awesome reviewers! You guys are the bomb!

romi.luvz.jared: Thanks for reviewing!

buffy1890: How much did you bet? Haha, there would have been a lot in it for you.

Pikouaencore: I know they're very… been done too many times, that's why I was a little nervous about posting this one. But I'm glad you like it, I hope you do keep reading.

wurd-god: Oh I don't blame you for being a little hesitant, but I'm definitely very glad that you gave this one a go :) I'm hoping… that the dynamics will be realistic… well, as realistic as a sister-fic can be, haha.

bloomsky: ok ok ok ok ok ok ok! Haha, I love your enthusiasm.

1000GreenSun: It's always a good part isn't it. Wait till next chapter… coming very soon… haha.

tigggerkim89: Hey, I'm very glad to hear that :) hope you liked this one.

Aannddd… you can tell me what you thought of _this_ chapter, by clicking that button. You know which one…


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Not mine… so sad.

**A/N: **Wow, seriously guys, thankyou so much! I wish this chapter was a little longer for you, sorry about the shortness. I'm so glad you're all liking it.

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Claire spent what felt like an eternity staring at the two men before her.

Had he just said…

She forced a grin. "Right, well, I'm willing to look past that clever joke of yours and let you in until Mom gets home… I'm not sure how you know who John Winchester is, but I'll forget about it for now." She opened the door wider to let them in.

The brothers sat themselves down on the couch, while Claire grabbed the phone. Wanting to keep it close in case these guys turned out of be serial killers, or stalkers, or just insane creeps and she needed to call the cops.

The next five minutes were the longest of their lives. Sam and Dean sat on one couch, while Claire sat on another opposite them. No one quite knew what to say.

Claire was running things over her mind. What they'd said. John Winchester was their dad. Was that even possible? She would have thought that at some point over her sixteen years her father would have mentions having two sons. Right? That was the only thing that stopped her from believing them.

At the same time, Sam was studying the girl before them. There was something about her. Though he couldn't quite place his finger on it. A strange emotion had flicked through her eyes when he'd mentioned their father's name. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that she'd known John. Whether by only by name, or personally he had no idea. But she definitely knew him.

This then made Sam wonder… why did she dismiss the fact they were John's son's? It was as though she didn't believe him at all. Surely, if she'd known John, she knew about himself and Dean. It was the one thing that was constant everywhere they went 'You're Dean and Sam. John's boys right?' and here she was, this girl, who knew their father and passed off that he was their father as a 'clever joke'.

"Why are you here?" The girl asked the question so suddenly Sam physically jumped, he hadn't realised he was so deep in thought.

"We told you." Dean said. "Our Dad got a call from Louise, it sounded important since he… well… we came."

"Right." She nodded. "Again with the 'John Winchester is our Dad.' You expect me to believe that?"

"Do you have a reason not to believe us?" Sam asked.

Claire lent forward in her seat, resting her elbows on her knees. "Yes." Her tone was final; they would have to pry for more information.

"Well?" Dean asked. "What is it?"

"I've known John my whole life. I think he would have mentioned two sons. So I really don't believe you. Now tell me who you are and why you're here. Is it really your business if my mom is calling my dad? I think she's entitled to the right."

"We're here because we…" Dean stopped short. He sat staring at the girl in front of him, her words finally sinking in. He frowned. "Now who's lying." He stated.

Sam looked from Dean, back to Claire, his features curious. "Did you just say…?" He trailed off as he looked to the other side of the room. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before. Resting on a small cabinet were several photo frames. One clearly depicting a woman, a much younger version of the girl in front of them and their own father.

"What?" Claire's eyes flicked between the two of them.

"Is John Winchester your father?" Sam spoke quietly.

"Yes. Is that such a big deal? See? Your little lie can only get you so far. You're scared now aren't you? Because you know you can't lie to his own daughter. So let's drop the game. Who are you?" She was standing up now. Holding the phone in her hands. "Tell me the truth or I call the cops."

"Just, stay calm." Sam didn't know if he was talking to Claire or to his brother who had an unreadable look on his face, one that suggested he could do something dangerous soon.

"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered before storming out of the house.

Sam and Claire were silent for a moment, staring at each other. "You going to follow him?" She asked.

Sam shook his head. "No. I want to talk to you."

* * *

More shout outs! You guys seriously rock.

buffy1890: aww, how can anyone resist Sam's puppy dog look, lol.

guardian music angel: Thanks a heap :) hope you liked this chapter.

romi.luvz.jared: Well… ok, haha. Thanks :)

dangermouse00: I like your name… dangermouse, very cool. Thanks for reading and I'm glad you liked it.

samndeanhots78: Thanks for reading. No, Claire isn't based off anyone famous, I prefer to not do that just because it lets anyone make their own interpretation. She does have medium brown hair that reaches halfway down her back, hazel eyes, tanned skin and an athletic build, she's not completely stunning, but she's a far cry from ugly. If it helps you to have her based off a celebrity then by all means go for it and find someone you like as her :).

Pikouaencore: Hehe, thankyou :). This story takes place during Season 2. It's sort of AU in that everything up to and including Road Kill has happened. Down the line I will probably include bits and pieces from the show, but not a whole lot because I don't want to basically be re-writing episodes with Claire in them. I find reading things like that really annoying. The most important thing in regards to this story is that John has been dead for a while, only because no one knew about Claire and Louise the news hasn't gotten to them.

Stay tuned…

In the meantime, leave a review. Like it, hate it, have a question, think you could have done better? I want to read all of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it.

**A/N:** Sadly… this is the last pre-written chapter. Chapter 6 is underway, but could be a while. I'll try ot update as regularly as possible. I'm glad you guys like this though. Review :) because I appreciate the feedback and it lets me know that you guys reading it actually do like it, haha (or you can review if you hate it… I don't mind either)

* * *

Claire waited. She paced up and down the length of the small living room gripping the phone in her hands, waiting for Sam to start talking. She tried hard to hide the fact she was shaking. What the hell was going on? Her mind strayed to the several birthdays and Christmases worth of weapons sitting new and unused in her closet. Sure, she didn't have a clue how to use any of them, but in a life or death situation did technicality _really_ matter? She could improvise.

"Claire, I think you might want to sit down." Sam suggested.

His kind tone wasn't fooling her. He just wanted her still. It was easier to attack a still target rather than a moving one.

"I'm good thanks." She snapped.

"Ok," He didn't argue with her. He opened his mouth to begin talking but stopped. Unsure how to approach the situation. "I'm going to ask you one more time, please be honest. Is John Winchester _really_ your father?"

Claire stopped pacing and turned sharply to him. Her eyes cold. "Of course I'm sure. Do you really think I don't know who my own father is? Sure, he's not around much, but he does visit. Why the hell is this such a big deal to you? What game are you playing at?"

Sam took a deep breath, trying to shake his own nerves. "He visited?"

"Sometimes, yes. Are you after him? Oh God, my dad's a drug dealer isn't he? That's why he's away and never directly answers questions about what he does. How am I supposed to tell my mom? Why is this happening? Can't I have one thing good in my freaking life." She ranted, shaking even more. She always suspected her dad didn't live a completely clean life. Why else would he be so secretive? So vague whenever she asked him what he did? This was why her mum would always change the subject whenever it was brought up. Her dad was nothing more than a criminal.

"No, he's not a drug dealer."

"Oh."

"I… Ok, I'm going to be straight with you, you deserve to know." Sam took another deep breath. "John is…was," He corrected. "My father too. Me and Dean, we're his sons, and if you don't believe me," He quickly pulled out a photo from his wallet, a ten year old Sam and a fourteen year old Dean stood on either side of John Winchester.

Suddenly, Claire whished she'd taken Sam's advice and sat down.

While it was normal for the older Winchester to have AC/DC blaring through his speakers, this time it served a specific purpose.

Dean wanted to drown out his thoughts.

He didn't want to, correction, couldn't, contemplate, at all, the idea that he had a…

Sister.

The word was foreign to him. Dean knew girls in one way, one night stands. He grew up without a mother, no aunts, no grandmothers, no female cousins (no cousins at all actually, none her _knew_ about anyway), definitely _no_ sister. The world just didn't work that way. Girls were for sleeping with. They didn't play any other role in his life.

The news more than shocked him. Nothing in the world could have prepared him for this.

What had his dad been thinking? Never telling them about her. For the first time, Dean was truly angry with his father. How could he have done this? To him, to his brother, to their mother? He was furious. Never before had he felt so… betrayed, so hurt.

He gripped the steering wheel harder, wondering if he could ever forgive this.

Claire sank to the couch. She stared from the photo to Sam, and back to the photo. Her hands shook as her mind slowly made the connection, not wanting to believe it, yet unable to deny it. Why, _why_ had this never come up before? Why had they never come to visit with her dad?

She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath.

"You guys were… you were telling the truth?" She asked finally.

Sam nodded. "If it helps, we had no idea about you either."

"So that explains the…" Claire looked to the door.

"Running off? Yeah. He just needs to calm down… he'll come around." _I hope_ was added silently.

She nodded. Not knowing what else to say she sat there, drumming her fingers on her leg.

This was weird. More than weird it was… so surreal. She was sitting in front of her brother. Her _brother_. She had a brother. Two, actually. She had two brothers. It just didn't seem real. She wanted her dad to show up, to explain everything. He would make everything ok. He would make everything make sense. She thought back over the entire conversation, trying to make it real, trying to make sense of it. She didn't hear the car pull into the driveway when it clicked.

"Wait." She said. "What did you mean by _was_ your father?"

Sam opened his mouth, but was interrupted by keys in the door.

"Claire! Can you help me get the stuff out of the car?" Louise walked in carrying several bags with her.

"Um, Mom?"

"What sweetie?" She dumped the bags on the kitchen table and turned around. Finally seeing Sam. "Oh. Um, who are you?"

"Mom, this is Sam." She left out the bit about her being one of John Winchester's other children.

"Oh," Louise gave him a good look, she suddenly went pale. "_Oh_, you, you're… Sam?"

Sam nodded. "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand, when Louise didn't take it he slowly put it back to his side. "Ok…"

"What are you doing here?"

"Wait, wait, wait." Claire interrupted. "You _knew_?" She asked. "Mom, do you know who he is?"

Louise nodded numbly.

"How come you never told me? You didn't think I might want to know I had two _brothers_?"

But before Louise could respond she'd taken off. Claire slammed the door behind her.

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From lack of time there are no reviewer shout-outs this time. But I still want to know if you guys loved it or hated it. Tell me!! haha.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, yada yada. Well, Claire and Louise are my own creations, Sam and Dean however are not.

**A/N: **I have over a thousand hits for this story, that seriously blows me away! Thanks so much guys. This one's a little longer :). For the record, I'm ignorant and I don't know exactly when it was that John died, so using this little thing called creative license, I've decided that John has been dead for about 6 months. It feels right anyway. Er… end of author's note. Just read it. Tell me what you thought because that makes me happy.

* * *

She ran. She ran hard and fast. Pushing herself beyond her limits. She thought of nothing but the wind slapping against her face, stinging her eyes. The muscles in her legs burning, her lungs struggling for air with every breath. Her throat was parched, she didn't have any water. But she wasn't going back. No, she wasn't going back there. Anywhere was better than home.

She couldn't, wouldn't, _refused_ to think about it. So instead she ran. She ran until she couldn't anymore, until she was nearly sick from the exhaustion. Claire lost track of time, she had no idea how long she'd been out for. It could have been ten minutes, it could have been hours. Quite frankly, she didn't care. Let her mother worry about her, let her wonder where'd she'd gone and if she was coming back.

She didn't want to go back. Not to the house full of liars.

Why had they let her believe she was an only child? Why had it never come up? Why were they keeping it from her? It wasn't like Claire was oblivious, it had always been clear that her dad had, had a life before meeting her mother. Why could neither one of them had mentioned that two other kids had been part of that life?

Was that where he was when he was always away? With them?

Finally she had to stop. She rested her hands on her knees, bending over, trying to get air back into her lungs. Every breath hurt, and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. She sat down on the curb, breathing heavily. Her head felt light, she wasn't sure if that was from the running or trying hard not to think.

She didn't notice the black car pull up to the curb at first. It wasn't until someone was standing in front of her calling her name.

"Claire."

Her head snapped up, and she saw the shorter of her… of them. She was blanking, what had his name been?

"Are you ok?"

She stood up and smiled. "My parents lied to me for sixteen years. I'm great." And proceeded to walk off.

He followed her. "You sound great."

"Go away."

"You know, you're not the only one that was lied to."

"Leave me alone."

"Claire." He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "Can we just… talk?"

"You might be my 'brother' or whatever, but you're a stranger, and I'm not exactly in the 'let's talk and have a heart to heart' mood."

He smirked. "I don't do chick flick moments anyway."

"Great." She wretched her arm out of his grasp and took off running again. She just wanted to get away from all of them. Only that proved to be impossible when he started driving alongside her in his car.

"Just get in."

"No."

"You're being ridiculous, you'll wear yourself out completely. I have water in my car."

Her throat was really dry, and she knew if she didn't drink soon she'd run the risk of passing out from dehydration. Claire stopped running and stared at him.

"But you'll only get it if you get in the car."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"I'm a Winchester." He grinned.

"My Dad lied to me for sixteen years." She pointed out.

"I'm not going to kill you."

"You could do worse."

"Just get in the car." To emphasise his point he held up a bottle of water.

Hesitating once more, Claire finally opened the passenger door and jumped in. She grabbed the water off him and gulped it down greedily.

"Better?"

"Much."

x x x

Louise didn't seem at all phased that her daughter had just taken off running. She didn't bother calling out after her, in fact, she barely even glanced at the door. Her gaze was set firmly on Sam.

"What are you doing here?" She repeated.

"We got your message."

"What mes… That was for John. How did the two of you get it?"

"Well, we," It suddenly dawned on Sam that Louise really had no idea that John was dead, and had been for several months. The news hadn't reached them, and now, now he had to be the one to break it.

"We had an agreement. The two of you would never come here, you and your brother were to never know about Claire, and she was to never know about you. You better explain to me what is going on, or I'll call John myself and tell him to get over here now."

"We've been intercepting our Dad's calls for the past… few months."

"Why? John never, I mean…"She stumbled over to the kitchen table and sat down on the nearest chair. "What happened?"

Sam took a deep breath. He really didn't want to have to do this, but he had no other choice. "You've probably been wondering why it's been so long since you've heard from him."

She nodded.

"Why you haven't been able to get a hold of him."

Again, she nodded. "I… I know what he does. I know that sometimes he can't call for a few months but, this is the longest."

"I'm sorry." Sam wasn't sure why he was apologizing. "I'm so, so sorry."

Louise knew. She knew exactly what he was about to say.

"He passed away."

She could only nod.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

x x x

Metallica's _Ride the Lightning _had always been one of Claire's favourite albums. Part of her deep down thought it was a shame her copy of it now sat in a box down in the basement. The irony that her… brother… had it playing full ball in his car wasn't lost on her.

Stupid universe.

She unconsciously tapped her fingers against her thigh to the beat of music, he must have noticed.

"You like Metallica?"

"No." She stilled her hand. She didn't… anymore. Cheerleaders didn't listen to 'mullet rock' these days her CD collection included Justin Timberlake and The Black Eyed Peas. "My mom used to listen to this stuff." She feigned disgust.

Just to annoy her, he turned it up louder, and began singing along.

Claire stared hard out the side window, determined to ignore him and his singing. Pushing the part of her that desperately wanted to join in and sing along further down. She knew all the words, she knew this album by heart, but she couldn't let anyone know that.

"Come on, you know you love it."

But, her focus had already shifted; up in the distance she could see Sophie's platinum blonde head, with her boyfriend, Bryan's arm around her waist. Claire let out a shriek and suddenly ducked hr head down. She couldn't, just _couldn't_ be seen in _this_ car, with _this_ music, with _this_ guy.

Dean stared at her puzzled.

"Uh…"

"Pretend I'm not here, just… pretend you're in the car alone."

"Ok…"

"And tell me when the blonde girl and that guy are well and truly out of sight."

Completely and utterly confused at her behaviour Dean did as she asked, and acted casual. He turned a corner and the couple were out of sight.

"Coast in clear." He said.

Claire sighed and sat up again. She continued staring out the window as though it never happened.

Dean frowned but thought better than to say anything. In stead, he drove back to her house.

* * *

Shout outs! Because there was a lack of them last time and I like doing them. You guys rock, seriously.

romi.luvz.jared: Haha, I'm glad you find the idea anyone could hate this absurd. Thanks :)

1000GreenSun: I have a slight feeling that Claire and Dean's relationship is going to be a very fun one to write. Obviously I haven't revealed all of Claire's character yet… and I can tell you it'll be interesting.

buffy1890: I would say I would hate to be Claire… but I wouldn't mind having Sam and Dean as brothers, haha.

guardian music angel: Thankyou :) I hope you liked this update.

wurd-god: Wow, thanks. Sit tight, all will be revealed in time. Thanks heaps for reviewing :)

dangermouse00: Thankyou, hopefully this is very much too you're liking.

Ktbug426: Thanks a heap. I hope you keep reading and that you like this one.

Well, that's it from me. I'm away for a few days, so while there'll be no updates then, I'm going to be brainstorming and writing a lot so I'll update as soon as I get back. In the meantime, I pretty much really want to know what you guys thought of this chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I'm still not owning this. Bummer eh?

**A/N:** I have the hiccups. Once again, thanks for the reviews, shoutouts down the bottom :). This chapter was a little harder to write, I'm still not entirely happy with it, but you get that sometimes… it's necessary more for the story, things will start moving a lot quicker with this part out of the way, I couldn't just skip it though. Anyway, hope you guys like it all the same.

* * *

Dean pulled up in the driveway. Claire made no attempt to move.

"You're going to have to face the music sometime."

"She lied to me Dean. _Lied_ to me."

"I know she did, but maybe if you let her explain…" He felt hypocritical. He knew, were his father still around, that he wouldn't want to hear it. He wouldn't care because no explanation could possibly excuse something so huge. But here he was telling Claire to hear her mother out. It was wrong, but he couldn't help it, the big brother switch had been turned on.

"What could she possibly say?" Claire laughed bitterly "It was for my own good? The point is she knew about you two. She _knew_ and never once bothered to mention to me I had two brothers. You have no idea how much it hurts."

"Oh I think I'd have some… Dad never told me or Sam about you either."

"Aren't you mad at him?" Claire looked over to her brother, who quickly changed the topic.

"Come on, treat it like a band-aid. The quicker you do it, the quicker it's over." He quickly climbed out of the car and waited for Claire to follow. She was confused at his sudden avoidance of the question, but chose not to push it.

As she climbed out of the car she took a deep breath and muttered under her breath. "This is going to hurt more than a band-aid."

x x x 

Claire knew something was wrong the second she walked through the door. For starters, none of the groceries had been put away; the ice cream was melting on the bench. Louise sat at the kitchen table, holding her head in her hands while Sam stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking sad, yet awkward at the same time.

"Mom?" Claire asked. "Mom, what's wrong?" She rushed to the chair next to her mother. She looked up at Sam and Dean. "It's Dad isn't it?" She asked rhetorically. "What happened?"

She could feel her eyes already filling with tears; she blinked them away furiously, refusing to cry until she knew for sure what was going. Judging by the looks on Sam and Dean's faces, things were just as bad as she was expecting.

"Maybe your mom should…" Sam suggested.

At that Louise looked up, Claire had never seen her Mom look so tired and worn, so weary, so… old. She took a deep breath. "Sam, Dean, could you boys go into the living room. I'd like to speak to my daughter alone."

Sam looked like he was about to protest, but thought better of it. He nodded and he and Dean left the room.

Claire waited expectantly for her mother to start talking.

"Ok." Louise sighed. "This is… difficult." She stood up and began pacing the length of the small kitchen. She knew she had to do this right. She also knew there was no guessing what her daughter's reaction would be. "I'm going to tell you the truth about… well, everything. You'll find it difficult, but please don't… don't flip out ok?"

"Sure…" Claire nodded, frowning; she'd never seen her Mom like this. What could be so bad that she'd freak out?

"Twenty-three years ago John's… your father that is… wife was killed tragically in a house fire. Electrical problems. Or at least, that's what the police reports say. The truth is, she was killed by a…" Louise looked at Claire carefully, waiting for her reactions. "By a demon." She let it sink in.

"Wait, by a what?"

"By a demon." She repeated.

"Mom… are you sure you're feeling ok? Maybe you want to go and lie down or something. Demon's they're… they aren't real."

Louise nodded. "That's exactly what I said. Until I came face to face with one. That's how we met, me and your father."

"My Dad's a demon?" Claire raised her eyebrows. She knew perfectly well what her Mom had meant, but she couldn't help but ask.

"No." Louise managed a grin. "Quite the opposite really, he hunted them."

The past tense was no longer lost on Claire. But she let her mother continue.

"After Mary, that was his wife's name, died John took his two sons and they began travelling around the country, looking for this thing that had killed her."

"Did he?" Claire interrupted.

"No. But along the way he killed every spirit, ghost or monster he came across. A little over sixteen years ago he found a case. Mysterious deaths were occurring late at night in a biscuit factory. It turned out to be the ghost of a girl who had been brutally murdered there some twenty years ago. I just happened to be working at that factory at the time and well, that's how we met." Louise paused again, letting Claire absorb this information.

"So…" Claire started slowly. "My Dad hunts… demons and ghosts and things that are only suppose to live in horror movies?"

"Yes."

"That's the last time I'll be sleeping at night." She muttered. "And so did they/" She gestured to the living room where Sam and Dean were undoubtedly listening to as much of the conversation as they could, just as curios about how their father met Louise.

"Again, yes."

Claire nodded. "Well, I guess that explains the presents."

Louise stared at her daughter for a moment, stunned at her reaction. "Well… I was never happy about that, but John's a stubborn man. He was going to tell you everything when you turned eighteen."

"But something's gone wrong?" More than anything, _this_ was what Claire had been dreading. The reason Sam and Dean were here.

Louise nodded; it was taking every ounce of strength she had to compose herself as she told her daughter the news. "Roughly six months ago there was an accident." This so fresh in her mind, as she recalled everything Sam had just told her. "Dean was… well he was dying. Your father, John, he… he made a deal, his life for Dean's."

Only one piece of information stood out to Claire. She went pale, her body felt numb. "Six months?" She asked faintly.

Louise moved forward to comfort her daughter. "I know honey." But the second she touched Claire's shoulder the sixteen-year-old jumped out of her chair.

"Six months? My Dad has been _dead_ for six months and I had no idea?" She could hear her own voice getting louder. She could feel tears welling in her eyes, and this time did nothing to stop them. "How… how could he do this to me? That's not fair. _They_ got to know him, really _know_ him. They got to travel the country with me! But me, me pathetic Claire the illegitimate child gets nothing but 'oh he died six months ago, sorry we forgot to tell you!'" She didn't care who could hear her, she didn't care that tears were now pouring down her face. "As if my life didn't suck enough already, in one day I have to find out my dad kept two brothers hidden from me, hunted things that shouldn't even exist and died _six months ago_!" Fuelled by her blind rage, Claire marched into the living room and stared at Sam and Dean. "I hate you! I hate the both of you. He loved you more than he loved me because I was nothing more than the result of a careless fling. I hate him, I hate everything!" Tears continued to stream down her face.

"Claire," Sam spoke softly, carefully. "We're both really sorry."

"No. She started sobbing. "It's not fair. It's not fair." Somehow, she collapsed into Sam's arms. "I… I…" She chocked on her own words.

"Sshh," He held her. "It's ok. It'll be ok."

Eventually Claire cried herself to sleep in her older brother's arms.

* * *

You guys are the bomb for reviewing!

wurd-god: Your review came so fast I actually had to double check, I was like 'review? Are you sure?' haha. I'm really glad you liked it. I have few ideas up my sleeve, haha.

1000GreenSun: Sorry, maybe I should have made it clearer. Sophie was with her boyfriend. Claire doesn't have a boyfriend… yet… but there's definitely someone at school interested in her, haha.

guardian music angel: Thanks, I'm really glad your enjoying it.

Gih: Thankyou for the review. I hope you keep reading.

Ktbug426: Thanks, it's nice to know you like it.

romi.luvz.jared: haha, thanks.

2ndstar2daRight2: And straight on til morning… sorry, couldn't resist. I've personally never thought of Claire from Hero's while writing, but if it works for ya go on right ahead, I like it when people have different takes on characters, it's what makes reading/writing really interesting. As for the finding out bit… that pretty much why I started writing this fic, I was looking for a realistic sister fic where the reactions weren't just 'oh, we have a sister…moving on' I think in real life (well… you get what I mean) the brothers would be kinda ticked at John for keeping it from them. So I set out to kind of create that, I'm glad to see that you think I've been successful in it.

Well, that's it from me. Hopefully you wont have to wait as long for the next chapter, it's well under way so… stay tuned. In the meantime, feel free to review, I know I certainly don't mind them, haha.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I own Claire… kinda. The rest of it isn't mine. I wish Sam and Dean were, haha, fangirls dream come true… sadly though…

**A/N: **Gah! It's been too long. Stupid life got in the way. Anyway, I've had this chapter planned out for a long time; it was just a matter of writing it (I can't believe I'm up to 8 already). Anyway, not much Claire, but a few important things so this story actually has some sort of a plot behind it. It is going somewhere and I'd just like to say now that no there will be no Claire being the damsel in distress with a demon after her or whatever… at least for this case.

* * *

Sam laid Claire down on her bed, careful not to accidentally wake her in the process. She'd been through a lot, they all had that day. He made his way down the stairs and went to pick up his jacket, which had earlier been discarded on the couch.

"We'll get going." He offered. "I'm sure you want some time to yourself."

"Act-actually, I was uh… hoping I could talk to both you." Louise suddenly looked shy, and nervous.

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. She was going to tell them to leave and never look back. She was going to tell them she didn't want them anywhere near her daughter. But they nodded anyway, sitting down on the couch as she invited them to. Sam was all ready to argue that it should be Claire's choice over whether or not they stick around for a while a get to know her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Dean asked as Louise brought in two cups of coffee from the kitchen, which both brothers gratefully accepted.

"About why I called John in the first place."

"Oh. Well, I assumed you just wanted Dad to uh… check in, see how he was and what-not." Dean had completely detached himself entirely from that situation. He didn't even want to begin to think about his father's secret life, it was easier this way for now anyway, to not think about it. This was a nice house; he didn't want to destroy it by punching a hole in a wall.

"You're not entirely wrong, but there was something else."

Sam's brow furrowed. "You have a job for us?"

"Well, I think so. I'm not an expert by any means. I never got too involved in the supernatural stuff, for a long time I struggled to accept it. So, excuse me if I sound like I'm not sure what I'm talking about."

"Go on right ahead." Sam encouraged.

"I work at the hospital as a nurse these days. Over the last few weeks we've had several girls come in, mid-twenties, all quite similar, come from good families, have budding careers, great friends. But they've all been found after a failed suicide attempt. We send them so the psychiatrist, but the reports are always the same. They're not in anyway unhappy with their lives and the girls can't explain why they tried to killed themselves, all have said it was like something, or someone else took over them." She stopped to take a breath and saw Sam and Dean trying to calculate these events in their head, flipping through every case they'd ever worked on or read about to find something similar. "There have been deaths too. Attempts that were successful, same sort of girls. To me it's not sounding like much of a coincidence anymore."

Sam nodded. "That's for sure. I'd say this is our sort of gig."

"Oh good." She sighed. "Well… you know what I mean. Do you think you can put a stop to this? I have these," She got up and pulled out several newspaper clippings from a drawer in the cabinet the photo's had been resting on. "If they're any help."

Sam smiled. "Sounds like you do know what you're doing." He accepted the clippings and stood up, Dean quickly followed suit. "If it's alright," He started. "We-_I_, would like to come back. I'd really like to get to know Claire."

Louise nodded. "Of course. Though, if she doesn't want anything to do with you I'd appreciate it if you didn't push the situation."

"Thankyou Mrs…"

"Call me Louise."

"Ok, thankyou Louise."

They left and went to a hotel they'd found on their way into town. Both brothers were silent on the short drive. Each re-living their own versions of what had happened that day.

The hotel had chosen a lovely shade of puke-green to decorate with. Complete with brown wallpaper trimmings along the walls, at first they'd mistakenly been a room with a queen size, until Dean had gone back to reception and asked if were they really that incompetent that they couldn't understand something as simple as 'two single beds, please'.

Sam was the first to speak, after he realised Dean wasn't going to.

"Well, today was… eventful." He truly could think of no other word to describe the day.

"Least we got a case. Something to do while we're here." Dean lounged back on his bed.

"Wait, Dean, what?" Sam was astounded. "After what we've just found out today the most you can say is 'at least we got a case'?"

Dean shrugged. "What else am I suppose to say?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe, 'why did Dad never tell us?' or even a simple 'I can't believe this' just something other than 'at least we got a case'."

"Look, I really don't have anything to say on that matter."

"Don't have anything to say? Dean, you at least got to spend a bit of time with her. What's she like?"

He shrugged again. "Normal."

"Do you even care about getting to know her?"

Not even acknowledging he heard his brother Dean reached for the remote.

"You _always_ do this. You just close up and I can't tell at all what you're thinking."

"My God, what are you? My wife? Why does it even matter to you anyway?" He asked. "What I think or how I feel isn't going to change a damn thing. So dad lied to us for sixteen years, lets move on ok? We have a little sister. If you want to get to know her, fine. If you want to talk about how you _feel_ about all of this, go and get a diary, hell, I'll give you the money for it. Just don't go dragging me into this all right? I'm going to focus on the job we have to do."

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Un-freaking-believable." He muttered low enough so Dean wouldn't hear.

His brother had already turned the TV, saying something about they can start on the case tomorrow morning. Sam instead rolled his eyes and pulled out his laptop starting research now so they could get the matter out of the way and could focus on the other issues at hand. Their little sister.

* * *

So… I would do review replies, but I'm in a bit of a hurry as I'm posting this. But you guys seriously rock, I'm so greatful for each and everyone of you reviewing because seriously, it makes my day. Feel free to leave a review. I'm open to constructive criticism; I know my writing isn't the best (that being said, I know it's not the worst) and I want to improve it (hence part of the reason I even write fanfiction in the first place).

But anyway, there's a pretty purple(? Ish anyway) button it says Go! And it's a lot of fun because you get to tell me what you though, how your day was and anything else you want to :)

Hopefully there wont be as much of a wait for the next chapter, I have it mostly planned out already.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:**I _wish_ I owned Sam and Dean. Only in a fangirls dream though… sigh.

**A/N: **I know. Permission to throw rotten fruit at me for taking so long, again, to update. I had this written a while ago, but I just didn't like it and something was missing so I left it and came back to it after a while and worked out what was wrong. I'm much happier with this chapter now. In fact, I think it's my favourite so far. Have fun reading.

* * *

_Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz_

Claire rolled over on to her side, burrowing herself deeper into the quilts. She wasn't ready to give up the warmth of her bed.

_Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz_

Fate had other ideas.

Her eyes snapped open, and begrudgingly she sat up and turned her head to her bedside table where her phone was circling around.

_Bzzz Bzzz_

She picked it up and saw the call was from an unknown number.

"Hello?" Her voice had that groggy raspy sound to it. She cleared her throat. "Sorry, hello."

"Hey, Claire. It's Jeremy."

Her stomach did a weird flip-flop thing. Jeremy? Quarter-back Jeremy? Captain of the football team's best friend Jeremy? Why was he calling her?

"Oh, hey."

Act calm, act natural, act like this is _no big deal_ she repeated over and over.

"Hey, so uh… what's up?"

"Oh, not a lot." Yesterday came flooding back her all too quickly.

"Yeah," He laughed. "I know what you mean. Things have been pretty quiet lately. Someone needs to have a party soon I swear or I might just die from boredom."

She laughed nervously. "Heh, yeah."

"So anyway, I heard you made it onto the cheerleading squad?"

"Oh um," Had she? She remembered that still being up the air. Especially after the whole hidden weapons of mass destruction fiasco. "I don't think it's official yet."

"When do you find out?"

What day was it? Sunday. They were supposed to find out on Monday. "Tomorrow, I think."

"Awesome. I bet those uniforms will really suit you."

Claire tried to force herself to stop blushing. "Um, thanks. I guess."

"Anyway, let me know how it goes. Maybe we can go out next weekend?"

Her stomach did that flip flop thing again. "Oh, sure, maybe."

"Awesome. Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you."

She hung up quickly.

What the heck had just happened? Had Jeremy Black just asked her out? This was turning out to be one strange weekend.

After quickly changing into a pair of jeans and tank top (because she was still in her shirt and shorts from yesterday) Claire headed down stairs in search of one thing. Food. After searching high and low for chocolate with zero success she settled on an apple and a glass of water. She sat at the kitchen table casually flicking through the newspaper. Too bad almost nothing happened around here.

"Oh, you're up." Her mother, Louise had come in through the back door, carrying an empty washing basket, she placed it on the kitchen bench. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine." Claire shrugged. Why wouldn't she be?

"Are you sure?"

Clair looked at her mother. Oh no. She had 'Mom' face on. Normally Claire and Louise had a good relationship. They weren't freakishly Gilmore Girls sort of close. But they got on a lot better than any other mother and daughter they knew. Claire told her Mom a lot. Not everything. But a lot. And Louise treated Claire like an equal, instead of like her bratty teenage daughter. But sometimes, and this was one of those times, Louise well and truly played the mom card.

"Yes, Mom. I'm positive. I'm fine."

"Even after that breakdown of yours yesterday?"

Oh. She'd forgotten about that. Claire vaguely remembered yelling. A lot. Yelling at the two strangers that had the ridiculous claim of being her brothers. She remembered even more crying. She couldn't remember what she'd said, but it was probably bad, judging by her Mom's reaction now.

"If anything, _because_ of that breakdown yesterday."

"So you don't want to talk about it."

Claire took a bite of her apple and shook her head.

"Ok. But remember you always can."

She nodded.

"Oh, um, I talked to Sam and Dean yesterday."

That's what their names were. The strangers. Her… brothers.

"And…?" Claire prompted.

"They want to get to know you. I told them they could, as long as you were ok with it."

She shrugged. "Sure, why not." She just had to be careful that this didn't get blabbed around the school. Gossip was a powerful thing and the last thing she needed was something like this to come a long and ruin what little reputation she had. Sophie took reputation seriously. In fact, the person was she (hopefully) replacing, had been kicked off the team because her grandmother died of lung cancer, and apparently Sophie 'couldn't have gross smokers on the team'. It didn't matter that the girl didn't smoke. Ha. Claire could beat that by a mile. Her Dad died from making a deal with a demon and she had two brothers pop up out of nowhere. Too bad her 'reputation' would be killed worse than the girl she was replacing if it got out.

"Great. I'll let them know."

"They really didn't know anything about me?"

"No. John and I thought it would be for the best if you didn't know about each other."

Ouch. Claire nodded. "Sure, because when in doubt, keep stuff from your kids right? It always ends well." She got up from the kitchen table and headed for the front door. Louise called something out after her, but Claire didn't hear it. She slammed the door behind her and headed to the park.

It was something she did whenever she was upset, or angry. She'd leave. Get out of the house, get some fresh air, and have a bit of time to calm down. Claire couldn't remember exactly when she'd picked up this habit, it was just… something she did.

x x x

Dean was sprawled out on his bed, snoring. Sam stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and holding back a laugh. Dean was anything but intimidating when he was snoring like a Grandpa.

It was early, depending on your definition of that word, to be up on a Sunday morning. But Sam had given up on sleep after the tractor in the bed next to him woke him up. After changing into an old faded pair of jeans and the first clean shirt hanging out of his bag Sam went out in search of coffee. He decided against taking the Impala and instead opted for fresh air and a walk. It might help him clear his head a little, and gather his thoughts.

When he and Dean had first stood side-by-side on the doorsteps of the house hopefully belonging to a mysterious Louise, the last thing he'd ever thought to find was a sister. An innocent sixteen-year-old girl, knowing nothing about the things that went bump in the night. She had long brown hair, with growing out blonde highlights and the same green eyes as Dean. She seemed tall for her age with an athletic build, but Sam wasn't sure, he didn't know any other sixteen-year-old girls to compare her with. She was pretty, and he'd later found out, an almost spitting image of her mother, minus Louise's blonde hair and blue eyes.

Sam was still in disbelief over his father's actions. It constantly frustrated him, the way that now, after his death so many more secrets about the man he thought he knew were being revealed. This was the biggest of them all. And it sure hurt the most. They had a little sister. There was now someone, part of his own blood that needed protecting from this world. When Claire had collapsed finally into his arms, he'd made the decision then and there that he was going to do anything he could for her. Nothing could make up for what John Winchester had done to the three of them, but he didn't want to see this girl hurt anymore by their father. Claire's words still rung loud in his ears.

'He loved you more than he loved me because I was nothing more than the result of a careless fling. I hate him, I hate everything!'

Sam desperately wanted Claire to know, that despite their father's actions, he still wanted to be the big brother he knew he could be.

He was surprised to find that the town had a Starbucks. Sam had become so used to the middle of nowhere, still on dial-up Internet, what the heck is cable TV towns, that Starbucks was now a luxury.

He walked in and stepped in line, quickly checking how long the queue was. He saw at the counter, ordering a coffee was Claire. Once she was handed her change, she went and stood to wait for her order. Deciding, this was more important than coffee, Sam quickly walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around in surprised; her alarmed look softened a little when she saw who it was.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hey."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other for a moment.

"You need to shrink." Claire said suddenly. "It hurts my neck to look up at you."

Sam smiled. "No. You just need to grow."

"Grow? No thanks. I'm already one of the tallest girls in my year. Not to mention I'm taller than half the guys, do you have any idea how much that sucks? Everyone knows you can't date a guy shorter than you."

"Why not?"

She frowned. "I don't know… it's just… the rules or something." Her order was called, and she grabbed it off the guy, smiling at him. "What did you get?" She asked Sam.

"Oh, nothing."

"You just came into Starbucks for kicks?"

"No. I was lined up, but then I saw you here and well… came over to say hi." He flushed red, suddenly embarrassed. The girl had an air about her, one of those 'I'm too cool for most people' vibes, like Dean.

"Oh. Ok, well, I was going to head over to the park. You can come if you want." She offered.

"Yeah, sure."

They walked silently over to the park. At 10 am on a Sunday morning it was quiet. Claire sipped at her caramel latte, seemingly unbothered by the silence.

"Mom said you wanted to get to know me." She said suddenly. "Don't feel like just because of… everything… that you have to. I mean, don't feel like you're now obligated to play the brother card."

"I don't want us to be strangers." He told her honestly.

"And Dean?"

Sam grimaced. "Dean… well he…"

"It's ok. You can say it. He doesn't want anything to do with me."

"It's not that. This is just hard on him. With everything we went through with Dad-" He stopped abruptly, not sure about how much he should say.

"It's ok. I get it."

"Tell me about yourself." He changed the topic.

She told him everything there was to know about her. Her favourite colour was green, her favourite number, 11. She was a closet fan of Harry Potter. She was smart, averaged A's and B's in school. She'd spent half her life doing gymnastics and was now almost a part of her school's cheerleading team. She had a massive crush on some guy named Jeremy and she didn't want this whole thing about two brother's mysteriously popping up out of nowhere to get out.

"Why not?" Sam asked frowning.

Claire sighed. "You wouldn't get it."

"I went to high school once too you know."

She laughed. "Yeah, in the stone ages. Besides, I bet you were the nerd kid that sat at the front and answered all the questions."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn." He defended.

"No, there's not." Claire honestly agreed. "But your experience of high school was very different to mine now, is what I'm trying to say. I want to be part of the cheerleading team, but Sophie rules it. The girl I want to replace was kicked out because her grandmother died."

Sam frowned. "That's not fair." He didn't like the idea of Claire mixing with people like that, but he had to remind himself, he was barely more than a stranger to her. He couldn't go telling her what to do.

"No it's not. But that's high school. So you see, if it gets out that my Dad, who's never around anyway, died 6 months ago and now I have two older brothers popping up out of nowhere, the whole school will turn against me."

Sam nodded, only because he didn't know what else to say. He already didn't like this Sophie girl.

"I should go. I have an essay due tomorrow I have to work on."

"Ok, yeah."

"Um," She hesitated. "I'll see you later then?"

He smiled. "Yeah, you will."

"Ok good. Next time you need to tell me what your favourite colour is, ok?"

x x x

Monday quickly rolled around. Too quickly for Claire. For the first time in a week, and to her relief she woke up to her 8 am alarm. She got up, showered and spent fifteen minutes in front of her wardrobe debating what to wear. Finally she settled on a pink skirt and white tank top. She wore her hair down for a change, but made sure she had a spare hair tie around her wrist.

"Claire! Someone's here for you!" Louise called from downstairs, while Claire was in the middle of brushing her teeth.

That was strange. Most mornings she walked to school alone. Why would someone be at her door? She briefly wondered if maybe it was Jeremy. But decided it was best to not get her hopes up.

"Coming!" She grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs only to find Sophie sitting in her uniform, cross-legged on the couch. "Sophie. Uh… what are you doing here?"

The blonde smiled. "I'm driving you to school silly."

"Oh."

"Let's go." She gave Claire a once over before nodding in approval.

Sophie had a black BMW and Claire was only a little more than intimidated. She would never have that sort of money.

"So um, why exactly are you driving me to school?" Claire asked.

"Well now that you're on the team you have to come in style. Claire, cheerleaders don't _walk_ to school."

"I'm on the team?"

"Duh, you said it yourself. You were the best that tried out."

"Oh, cool." Inside she was jumping up and down screaming. She'd made it. Finally she'd made it. She was going to be a cheerleader. She'd played everything by the book to perfection and it had worked. She was finally going to be somebody.

* * *

I would just like to point out quickly here that my reviewers are the best :) and thanks to everyone that's added me to their story/author alerts. I love knowing that you actually like this story enough to want to keep track of it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:**If I owned Supernatural I would be Dean's girlfriend. Clearly though, I'm not, and by conclusion, don't own the show either.

**A/N:** Er… Well sorry about the wait. I don't love this chapter, but I haven't been able to work out what's wrong with it so maybe it's just me thinking that. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

x x x

Claire stood at her locker, reaching deep into its depths, trying to find her chemistry book in amongst the random crap that had somehow made its way into the metal box. She finally found what she was looking for and pulled it out, slamming the door of her locker shut.

"Boo."

Claire let out scream as the person leaning against the locker next to her scared her.

"Far out! Don't do that." She scolded, taking in the girl's appearance.

She was about a head shorter than Claire. Her dark brown hair fell just above her shoulders. The only trace of makeup on her was mascara. Claire eyed the Led Zeppelin shirt and bright blue skinny jeans with a forced scowl of distaste.

The girl pushed herself off the locker. "Heard you made the squad."

Claire shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah." She said softly.

"So what, they've got you listening to Justin Timberlake now? Britney Spears? Lindsay Lohan and all those other Hollywood skanks?"

"Life's not about music."

"No." The girl shook her head. "It's not. But there was a time you swore you'd rather be shot dead than sing along to Bringing Sexy Back."

Claire's expression hardened. "Quit bothering me Shenay. I don't care."

"Fine." The girl shrugged. "Go and live your fake life." Shenay nodded in the direction behind Claire. "Boyfriend's waiting."

Claire turned around and saw Jeremy standing just near her locker looking at her. She blushed when he smiled at her and headed to him. She briefly looked back, but Shenay had already disappeared. Claire sighed, but the second Jeremy wrapped an arm around her, she forgot about the dark haired girl, Shenay, who had once been her best friend.

x x x

"So I've crossed referenced every victim so far." Sam was saying from the table of their small motel room. "They were all born and raised in this town. Your typical student, average grades, good home lives, boyfriends the lot. They've all been older than 18 and younger than 30, but I don't think we can say for sure that's the only age whatever this is, is targeting"

Dean nodded; he was sprawled out on his back on his bed. "So you think this is a vengeful spirit?"

"I think so."

"So you've looked up local suicide reports?"

"Yeah," Sam frowned. "That's the one thing that doesn't add up. I haven't been able to find anything. I checked police files, hospital records, newspapers, and death certificates. All up to 100 years back and nothing."

Dean frowned. "That's weird. Maybe we're looking for the wrong thing."

"But what else could it be?"

Dean shrugged. "Beats me looks like we're still at square one. Either way, it doesn't seem to be very strong. Louise said there have been failed attempts. Maybe we should go and talk to some of those girls."

"That's a good place to start. We can get Louise to get the information for us."

"Uh, yeah, sure that's an idea."

Sam left a beat of silence before bringing it up. "Maybe we could um, go this afternoon, once school's out. It would be a good chance to see Claire too." He bit his lip, anxious to see how his brother would react.

Dean propped himself up on his elbows and stared at Sam. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I just thought it would be nice… You know, see how she's going and that."

"Want me to bake brownies too?"

"Look Dean, I know you're pissed at Dad about this whole thing, but don't take it out on them. Especially not on Claire, she's just as innocent as we are and deserves to know her own blood relatives."

Dean shrugged. "She did fine for the first 16 years of her life without us. I don't think she'd be crying if we were to leave town tomorrow."

"Would it really kill you to make an effort?"

"Yes Sammy, it might." He flopped back down on the bed with a thud.

"Just come this afternoon, and if you really don't like it then I'll never ask you to talk to her again."

Dean realised they were at a stale mate. Sam wasn't going to let up. "Ok." He agreed. "But just this once."

x x x

Claire had been about to accept Sophie's offer on a ride home, when Jeremy walked up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I was thinking I could walk you home."

"Um," Claire looked from Jeremy to Sophie.

Sophie smiled. "Go ahead."

"Ok, cool." She turned to Jeremy. "Let me just get my bag."

She went to her locker and pulled out her backpack. All too aware that from her own locker across the corridor, Shenay was watching her, disappointment all over her face.

"Let's go."

Jeremy held her hand the entire way home, and Claire had to force the silly smile off her face. Nothing was 'official' yet, but considering all day he'd been walking her to and from classes, sat with her at lunch and now, was walking her home, it wasn't going to be long before he asked her out. She was going to say yes, naturally. Who would turn down that spiked dark, almost black hair, clear blue eyes, perfect not too muscly but just muscly enough body and make you weak in the knees smile? Not to mention he was a perfect gentleman, carrying her books, asking how she was. He was perfect.

They were quiet for most of the walk home, walking slowly though, making the most of each other's company. Well, Claire was anyway. She was also waiting for Jeremy to start the conversation, because she didn't know what to say. She'd never had a boyfriend before. What did girls talk about with their boyfriends anyway? Suddenly she wished she'd read more of those teen magazines when she was thirteen. Instead her and Shenay had sat in their rooms, AC/DC blearing loudly, playing air guitar wildly and wishing they had been born a few decades earlier.

Once they reached her house Claire stopped, Jeremy dropped her hand. "Um, this is it."

"Cool."

"Do you um, wanna come in for a while and have something to eat? Mom makes these great chocolate chip biscuits."

He smiled. "Yeah, sure."

Claire missed the black car sitting across the road.

x x x

"… if we could get in to talk to them that would be…" Sam trailed off.

Claire was standing just inside the front door, her key still in her hand with her mouth slightly open. Jeremy was right behind her, his hands shoved into his jeans pockets awkwardly. Sitting in her living room was her mother, Sam and Dean. What were they doing here?

"Hi honey, how was school?" Louise asked.

"Um, it was good."

"Who's your friend?"

"Oh. Mom, this is my um… This is Jeremy. Jeremy, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you." He politely shook her hand and immediately put it back in his pocket.

Sam coughed loudly.

"Oh yeah, um… Jeremy, these are my um…. Cousins. Yeah. Sam and Dean. They're on a bit of a road trip at the moment and were just passing through." She stared at them pointedly when she saw Sam's surprised look and Dean's frown.

"Hey." Jeremy nodded from where he was. The brother's nodded back.

"Right well," Louise said. "Sam, I have what you were after if you'd just follow me."

Sam nodded and followed Louise (who gave Dean a look as if to say 'You have to stay and supervise') upstairs.

Claire moved and sat on the couch opposite Dean, Jeremy awkwardly followed her and sat next to her.

A few seconds, suddenly felt like several hours as the three sat there, twiddling their thumbs, each waiting for someone else to start speaking.

"So, Jeremy," Dean said suddenly. "What do you do?"

"Um, I go to school…"

"Right, of course. What are your grades like?"

Claire gave Dean a horrified look, which he ignored and stared at Jeremy.

"Um, good I guess. I get mostly B's and C's."

Dean shook his head. "Surely a bright young boy like you can do better than that."

"Well, actually, I'm on the football team, so that takes up a lot of my time."

"Right." Dean nodded. "Football player huh?" He looked at Claire, who was now bright red and glaring at her brother. "What do you play?"

"Quarterback."

Dean nodded again and paused for a moment. Letting the information sink in.

"So I guess that would make you quite popular with the girls then huh?"

Jeremy grinned. "Yeah, it does."

"Ever slept with any of them?"

Jeremy opened his mouth to speak but Claire cut in.

"Dean. Kitchen. Now." She stood up, not waiting for him to answer and marched into the kitchen. Only a few seconds later Dean appeared, a hard expression on his face. She spun around and faced him. "What the _hell_ was that?"

"What was what?"

"_That_! The freaking interrogation?"

"I was just asking him a few questions."

"Oh bullshit you were Dean. Seriously, you have _no_ right to even go there. You're not my mother, and hell, you're _not_ my father."

"But I _am_ your brother, and I don't think this boy is good news."

She snorted. "Hardly. You don't even know me Dean, so stop trying to play the over protective brother card because I don't need it. I got this far through life fine without you. I don't need you." She stopped, only to take a breath. "Besides, I was under the impression you didn't care about me. You can't go from not wanting to know me one moment to interrogating my boyfriend the next."

"So he _is_ your boyfriend then?"

"Almost."

Dean shook his head. "Listen to me Claire. Boys like that are bad news. Come on the popular jock? Who's to say he isn't just using you for sex?"

"Oh ew, Dean. Don't go there. And he's not ok? You don't even know him, so _don't_ judge him."

"No, but I know how teenage boys think. I was one once."

"I don't care. Leave me alone." She brushed past him determinedly and marched back into the living where she took her seat next to Jeremy. "I'm so sorry about that Jeremy."

He smiled. "Claire, you can call me Jay, everyone else does."

"Ok, Jay." She smiled, testing out the new name. "But I really am sorry about Dean, I don't know what got into him. I mean, he hardly even knows me and all of a sudden was asking you rude questions."

"Claire," He put a hand on her knee. "I've already forgotten about it."

"Thankyou."

They stared at each other. Jeremy slowly brought his hand up to brush some of her hair behind her ear.

"I really like you Claire."

Her smiled slowly faded as he lent closer to her. Their faces were barely inches apart, Claire closed her eyes waiting for him to close the gap.

"Did you guy's want some…"

The jumped apart guiltily, as Dean stood in the door that connected to living room and kitchen together, mouth slightly open, surprised and embarrassed by what he'd just interrupted.

"Coffee?" He finished.

"Actually," Jeremy stood up quickly, putting even more distance between him and Claire. "I really should go. I have training later."

Dean nodded. "Alright then."

"Um, nice meeting you uh… Dean." He turned to Claire. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah." She smiled. "Tomorrow." She saw him out the door and turned to Dean. "I really hate you right now." She spat.

Without waiting to hear what he said, she ran upstairs, brushing past her mother and Sam on their way down, and slammed the door of her room shut.

x x x

**A/N #2**: Hm, so… I'd like to hear your thoughts/opinions on Shenay, if you have any. I'm also finding Dean's actions contradictory, but it's necessary for later on. Also, I have a question; this sort of… section of the story will be over within the next few chapters. Should I finish that and leave it as one story and make the rest the sequel, or just keep going? Personally I like the sequel idea, but I want to know what you guys think first.

Reviews are appreciated :). (I'd like to hit 60, I'll update either way, but 60 reviews will make me extra happy)


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** I can't believe I haven't updated in... well, an extremely long time. I lost the notebook I had all these notes about this story and haven't been able to find it. So I'm really sorry. But I'm hoping to get back on track with this and all that. Should be exciting. Hope you like it.

**Disclaimer:** The Winchester boys aren't mine... Jimney Cricket was wrong about wishing on a star... this makes me sad.

* * *

Claire stormed into her room, she was beyond furious. Dean… how could he have said those things? How could he have judged Jeremy so quickly? He didn't know him. He didn't even know her! What right did he have? Especially when she was under the impression Dean didn't care she existed, didn't want anything to do with her.

Distraught, Claire reached for her phone, automatically dialing a number she'd memorised a long time ago.

It rang a few times before the person picked up.

"Yo sup?"

"Shenay?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Claire." Why had she rung her? Why Shenay?

"Oh."

Claire sat there holding the phone to her ear, trying to think of a way to break the silence. It was weird, that this used to be the girl she could talk to for hours without actually having anything to say, and now they sat in silence, Shenay, clearly waiting for Claire to start speaking. But she couldn't.

"Why did you call?" Shenay finally asked.

"I…" Claire broke. "I don't know what to do Shay! Everything is so messed up right now."

"I know. Claire Parker is a cheerleader for crying out loud!"

"Can you come over?" Her words were muffled through her tears.

"What?"

"Come over?"

Shenay sighed heavily into the phone. "I… I dunno Claire…"

"_Please_? Shay, you're… you're my best friend. I need you right now."

There was another sigh and a long pause. "Sure. I'll be there soon."

Claire hung up and sat on the edge of her bed, hugging her pillow tightly. Tears streamed down her face and she didn't care. It was all just too overwhelming. Two older brothers. Two people that shared the same flesh and blood that she did. Two _family_ members her father had kept a secret from her. Not only that, but her dad had been a ghost hunter for a living? No wonder she had enough weaponry for an entire army sitting at the bottom of her closet. It just seemed surreal that this was happening. Surely this sort of thing only happened in soap operas? Not real life?

It wasn't long before there was a gentle knock on the door, followed by "Claire? It's Shay."

Tossing the pillow aside, Claire quickly wiped her eyes. "Come in."

Shenay had learnt years ago that Claire's mom kept a spare key under the third pot on the right of the front steps.

They stared at each other for a moment. They hadn't properly spoken in months, not after a huge fight they'd had a few months back, over Claire trying out for cheerleader.

"Ok, can you explain the two _extremely_ gorgeous men in the living room of your house and why you are in your room sulking instead of trying in vain to get their phone numbers?"

Claire let out a choked laugh. "I have their phone numbers. Or, Sam's anyway."

"Which one was Sam?"

"The insanely tall one."

"Yes!" Shenay punched the air. "The hotter one is all mine."

Claire made a face and threw a pillow at Shenay. "Ew."

"What? You don't think he's hot?"

"Maybe if I wanted to go to jail. He… well… both of them… they're the reason I called."

"Yeah," Shenay moved to sit on the bed next to Claire. "Cause when I have two hot guys in my living room my first reaction is to burst into tears and call an old friend."

She just shook her head.

"Ok, I'm going to need more than that."

Claire shrugged. "They… Sam and Dean…. They're my brothers."

Shenay stared at for a few long seconds. "Uh… Claire, honey… this isn't some… weird religious thing is it?"

"No." She shook her head. "They're my brothers as in… brothers… my father's sons."

"You're shitting me right?"

"I wish I was."

"And you're dad just never told you?"

She shrugged. "He never told them either. They were just as surprised. I just… It's so screwed up Shay. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Oh and Dad's dead by the way, did I mention that?" She laughed bitterly. "In one day I lost a father I never really had to begin with and gained two brothers. One of which claims he doesn't want anything to do with me, and then goes yelling at my boyfriend about using me for sex!"

"Well… that truly sucks."

"Yep."

X X X

The slam of the door echoed through the house.

Dean ran one hand through his short hair and sighed. Sitting back down on the couch.

The way Claire had glared at him… he'd heard the saying 'if looks could kill..' but had never quite believed it until just then. Honestly, he didn't know what had come over him. He didn't care about this girl, this… stranger… but some weird protective instinct had come flying out of nowhere when he saw her with that guy. He told himself over and over that it wasn't the fact this girl was his… that is was Claire. But that he would have done the same to any teenage girl who happened to be around while they were working on a case.

"Is… everything ok?"

Dean twisted his head and saw Louise, standing in the living room with Sam. He sighed. "I may have pissed her off."

"What did you do?" Sam asked.

Dean shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it. Anyway, the kid left."

Sam made an 'o…k… then' then and turned back to Louise. "Thankyou for the information, it's a great help."

She nodded. "Just remember the condition I'm giving this to you on."

"What condition?" Dean asked.

"Don't worry Louise, I'll fill him in."

"Would you boys like a coffee or anything before you go?"

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but the front door suddenly flew open and a short girl with long dark hair suddenly flew through the door. Upon seeing the three figures staring at her she stopped. "Sorry. I would have knocked but…"

"It's ok Shenay." Louise smiled. "You're welcome here any time."

"I'm just going to…" Her eyes were flicking between Sam and Dean. "To… uh… go upstairs… to Claire's room… um, she called… before…" Her eyes continued to dart between them before finally settling on Dean. "Um, yeah… ok then." She turned and bolted up the stairs.

Sam and Dean exchanged glances.

"That was weird." Dean said finally.

"Alright so, we should get going." Sam made a successful attempt to move on.

Dean nodded along side his brother. "Yeah, we'll… be in touch, I'm sure." He looked towards Sam. "Regarding the case I mean."

"You'll talk to her for me wont you?" Sam asked.

Louise nodded. "Remember, I'm not making any promises though. Good luck with the case and everything. If you need anything else feel free to ask."

Both brother's nodded and headed out the door. It was getting dark. Tomorrow was a new day.

"So," Dean said as he turned the key's in the ignition. "What did you mean by 'You'll talk to her for me'?"

Sam sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.

* * *

So I'm basically trying to get this story back on track, because I can't remember how the second half of the this chapter actually went, and it's all a little weird and choppy... next one will be better... hopefully anyway, it's been so long I need to get back into the characters head. Anyway, I appreciate all your reviews, and I'll start replying to thema gain this chapter. I got so many more for the last chapter than I actually expected to so thanks heaps :) :)


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